What Happened the Last Time Notre Dame Played Stanford?
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Halfway through our 2026 opponent retrospectives, we arrive at the wretched corpse of Notre Dame’s other West Coast rival. It’s sad to say because I used to love this series and in my undergraduate years Stanford was probably Notre Dame’s best rival, but at this point it has become a joke and a bore. With the exception of one spicy and spiteful (these are not insults) David Shaw team in 2022, this “rivalry” is now a stale annual exercise consisting of the Irish mauling hapless and increasingly disinterested Cardinal teams, a long-settled score best summed in a single GIF:
The fact that the USC rivalry has been survived by this farce is a bitter pill to swallow. Far from being an equal to that iconic battle, it’s closer to the Navy series as something akin to a self-imposed Wookie life debt. In fact, that might be an insult to the Middies because they’re a reliably tougher out than Stanford these days.
Anyway, Stanford is on the schedule again. Let’s talk about what happened last time.
Week 6: Stanford Cardinal
Last matchup: November 29, 2025 – Notre Dame 49, Stanford 20
This laugher out on the farm wasn’t even as close as the score indicated, as the Irish led 35-3 at halftime and basically just dicked around with their backups in the second half. For their part the Cardinal seemed uncertain about whether they even liked football or life itself, except when it was time to try and injure Jeremiyah Love and derail his Heisman campaign.
Adding to the sense of ennui was ESPN’s broadcast. It was bad enough that this game got the #accafterdark treatment in what seemed a blatant effort by ESPN to highlight teams affiliated with its favorite conference (who can forget Alabama’s heroic win over 4-8 Auburn and that gutsy 4th down call?). Dave Flemming and Brock Osweiler, the latter of whom has inexplicably still not been jailed for his crimes against football, added insult to injury by pontificating relentlessly about who they believed belonged in the playoff rather than Notre Dame to the exclusion of pretty much any other topic, including the game unfolding in front of them. I’ve written at length about the perverse incentives created by the modern college football media landscape, and there is no better proof of that phenomenon than this war crime of a broadcast.
Now, let me take my own advice and get back to the game itself. The Irish were predictably dominant in the minutes that mattered, scoring on all but one first-half drive en route to the aforementioned 35-3 halftime advantage. The injury to Love early limited him to just 66 yards and Notre Dame’s opening touchdown, with Jadarian Price and Aneyas Williams mostly taking over from there (Love did briefly return but didn’t get the eye-popping numbers needed to keep his dark-horse Heisman bid going).
Williams saw the most action and made good on his opportunities, racking up 83 yards and two touchdowns. The game script limited CJ Carr’s opportunities to throw the ball as he finished with only 205 yards. Notre Dame’s leading receiver was amusingly safety Luke Talich, who took a fake punt 84 yards to the house with the Irish already up 14-0. This admirably cruel call by Coach Freeman and its execution by Talich effectively ended the game.
The most hilarious/pathetic part of this game was watching Stanford attempt to move the ball through the air on Notre Dame’s secondary, as Leonard Moore was fruitlessly targeted time and again with little to no success. Stanford quarterback Elijah Brown finished 18-of-37 with a 47.6 QBR and one interception that landed in the arms of Moore. The Cardinal rushed for only 86 yards, and 30 of those were gained on a scramble by backup quarterback Charlie Mirer (hey!) in garbage time.
You can guess from my tone here how I feel about having to watch Stanford football against any team in 2026, let alone my own. In my defense, I’m pretty sure they aren’t very excited about it either. Highlights are below, I recommend you enjoy them on mute:
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